Investigators with the Los Angeles Police Department can now delay interviewing officers involved in use-of-force investigations for up to 72 hours after the incident. The commission overseeing the department approved a six-month pilot to test the new policy.
The Board of Police Commissioners voted on April 22 to give LAPD’s Force Investigation Division (FID) extra time to interview officers after hearing arguments from investigators, who claimed they don’t have enough time to review the increasing volume of video footage of an incident before interviewing officers.
The FID is tasked primarily with administrative investigations into whether an officer’s use of force followed state law and department policies. The LAPD’s previous policy was to immediately question an officer following a use-of-force incident…